unrelated, i think gerard kennedy has the right idea about raising consumption taxes to get back to surplus. i'd tweak it a bit though and return surpluses through income tax reductions or increases in tax exemptions. either way, the smart strategy is to shift the burden of taxation from income to consumption.

if the liberals can do that AND resist the temptation to produce a whole slew of new programs and their attendant expenses, they'd get my vote on this issue alone.

I do not believe online polling is even close to the right figure. I have a lot of family members that do not own PC but would definitly vote on election day. The elderly ones would vote Liberal and the younger who knows but they do not do online polls either so those figures mean absolutely nothing.